All Our Firsts 05: A Moment of Silence (Memorial Day)
by AkinaSky
Summary: Stiles has brought all of them together for one thing, to help say goodbye to those who have gone before them in this war they have been in since Sophomore Year. Sterek and Team (mentioned) fic


**A Moment of Silence for Those Who Have Fallen**

 **All Our Firsts One-Shot**

 **Memorial Day**

Stiles stood next to the stone, his hand pressed to the edge of the cold surface and listened as the cars drove up from the access road and he smiled sadly. He wished they'd been able to come do this before now but he couldn't get it done fast enough. Just that morning Stiles had this place finished and it was going to be at a midway point between the old foundation and the new one.

He turned as he watched the others walking in from the access point. It would take them a few minutes for them to get here but Derek was running towards him and Stiles let his boyfriend catch him. Stiles laughed as Derek swung him around in a circle. He leaned back enough to press a kiss to Derek's stubbly cheek.

"What are we doing here Stiles?" Derek asked gently though after months of being together Stiles could feel the tension radiating from the werewolf's body and when he resettled Stiles back on the ground he saw the pinched lines around his boyfriend's mouth.

"I promise we don't have to stay here for long love," he said and pressed his hand to Derek's jaw.

"This place doesn't hurt me like it used to Stiles," Derek said and kissed Stiles on the corner of his mouth, "Because you showed me that I had something more than death and destruction."

Stiles flushed and squeezed Derek's shoulder as they turned to smile at their friends. Lydia and Ethan were walking towards them, hand in hand while Jackson walked in behind them. Malia and Scott were standing next to Kira and Parrish came in at the back. So many of their friends, their pack was here and though Stiles knew the baby betas were a part of Scott's life and Stiles's life, Liam deserved to be here with the others but they didn't know what damage and the death that this group had learned to live with after all this time. He wished and hoped to see one more person but he wasn't here and that was fair. Isaac had left the country to escape the pain of Allison's death and he hadn't really expected him to come back here, especially with Erica and Boyd as well.

Stiles took a deep breath then Derek shook him a little and pointed to his ear, "What?" the human asked his supernatural boyfriend.

"Just wait," Derek whispered and there was a little shimmer in his gaze that said this moment was already getting to him so Stiles bounced a little under Derek's arm as the others came closer. He was passing out hugs to everyone when Derek pressed a hand to his shoulder and he looked over to see his dad walking towards them with Melissa McCall and Chris Argent.

"Dad!" Stiles exclaimed and bounced over to hug the older man. Then he looked over his shoulder and hiccupped a little when he saw who was hiding out behind Argent's shoulder. A mop of dark curly hair and Stiles pulled away from his dad's arms in shock and surprise.

"Hey Stiles," Isaac said softly, waving with that little half grin on his face. The one that came out after Scott and Melissa, Chris and the pack showed him that he was more than a bare fist punching somebody out and a victim of domestic abuse.

"Isaac!" he rushed over to his friend and dragged the tall werewolf into a hug and laughed at the fact that they were all here.

All of them.

After another five minutes of hugs all around they all settled, Stiles standing next to the covered stone with a hand on the edge and his other hand holding onto Derek's hand. He could feel the clamminess between their palms but he was going to say what needed saying.

"Thank you for coming here, I know for some people Memorial Day is for people who died in wars and battles all over this world and those are something we have no knowledge of. We were young, only sixteen when we were introduced into this supernatural world and we've have losses," his voice broke and Derek pulled him closer.

"We have been in a war ever since and never have we been able to really sit with the losses and recognize them for what they were. For what they are," Stiles looked around the clearing at all the faces of his family and took a deep breath because he needed to say this.

"It's okay son," the Sheriff said and it bolstered Stiles.

"We are here to recognize the heroes in this battle, the ones that we had a personal involvement with. These are not all that came to an end in this war, and there are more to be appreciated in the years to come but this place. This memorial is for us, the Hale-McCall pack in Beacon Hills."

Stiles turned a little and pulled the sheet away and there it was. Marble block about four feet tall, and there were wolves etched into the sides, a bow and arrow off to one side and at the top was the triskele because that's what had brought them all together. Derek helped them survive and helped them stand even when he was dying inside. Stiles crouched down and let his fingers trace along the lines of each of the names.

"To Allison Argent," Stiles whispered and looked over to Chris, then Scott and Isaac, then Lydia who was holding onto Scott's hand in a death grip. "The sunniest gal turned badass ever."

"A beautiful daughter."

"My first love."

"A friend until the last moment."

Stiles nodded and moved onto the next, "Erica Reyes, the best Catwoman this Batman could have ever asked for. Vernon Boyd, the strong and silent protector who just wanted to have some friends and someone to look up to."

"My pack, I'm sorry to you both," Derek whispered and Stiles stood to hug him gently.

"Aiden," Stiles continued, looking over at Ethan and Lydia.

"A friend and a brother, someone who always stood at my back and let me know that together we stood taller than any foe."

"To a good man," Lydia whispered brokenly.

Stiles looked over to Chris, "To Victoria Argent," the man sucked in a deep breath and stared at the other human in a sea of supernatural creatures. "In a town of kanima, werewolves, banshees and anything else you could think of, one scary woman."

Chris chuckled wetly as did a few of the others. He stared at Stiles then whispered, "Thank you."

He nodded, then Stiles took two large steps backwards and there it was, facing the old foundation on the other side of the slab where he pulled Derek with him, "And to the Hale Pack, those who were taken in a time of celebration because of someone's disbelief that werewolves could be more than monsters. You deserve to be remembered for the lives you lived before and the son who survived you. The son that showed each of us that it didn't matter where you come from as long as you are willing to fight for something today."

"Stiles," Derek whispered but the human just nodded and the werewolf fell quiet in reverence of his boyfriend and this Memorial Day tribute.

"And maybe we'll never be able to count all the men and women who perished because of this war but I think I got most of them, including," Stiles pointed to various names in smaller script down the sides of the stone, "Isaac's dad, all of the deputies who have died for who knows why, all of the victims no matter their fault or failures. In death they are all forgiven and in death our grief is the same. Even for someone who did such great harm."

At that he pointed out one more name at the edge of one side, it might be the first to wear down over time and Stiles knew that but she deserved peace as much as any of the people standing here right now and Derek whispered the name, "Kate Argent, Gerard Argent. The other hunters are here too."

"This is a civil war we have been fighting for far too long, and something happened here, when the Argent's learned to see the werewolves as something more than monsters and we can take that every where, maybe educate people. We don't have to keep feeding this death machine here in Beacon Hills or anywhere else.

"Today is not just about a memorial that is long overdue but it is a pact that we have signed in blood over the years, to keep fighting side by side. Now we have to take that fight somewhere else."

"You want to convince other Hunters to stop killing?" Argent asked.

"Sometimes the supernatural is evil but sometimes its misguided, I don't think we are going to change the world but we did change one small corner of it and maybe that means that we will lose less in the coming days," Stiles said and looked down at all the names on that piece of marble. "God I hope so because I can't lose another one of you guys to something so stupid as a closed-minded bigot. We are all going to different places for school, what if we found the supernatural there and put a bug in one ear that werewolves aren't killers, that we don't have to kill what we don't understand. What if each of us takes the fight with us?"

"Then maybe," Argent said as he stepped forward and held his hand out in front of Derek and Stiles, "Maybe this civil war doesn't have to continue to take so many lives."

Stiles reached out and slapped his hand over the hunter's palm and looked around, "What do you say guys? Change this cruel world one location at a time?"

Other hands slapped down until they were all standing in a circle, smashed in as close as they could be and grinning together.

"Be safe no matter where you go and what you do," Stiles whispered into the circle.

"And come home for a visit every once in a while," the Sheriff responded causing everyone to laugh.

"And remember what it is to have lost our pack members, maybe we can help others to not suffer the same fate," Stiles said and they waited out the quiet for a few minutes. One by one people pulled away, some were going to the McCall place for some food and hanging out. Others were seeking solace of the day, Argent and Isaac walked away together with the Hunter's arm over the werewolf's shoulders until it was just Derek and Stiles standing next to the stone with Scott and Lydia.

"She'll never be forgotten right?" Lydia asked, wringing her hands together as she reached out and touched Allison's name again.

"Not while she lives on in your memory, and that you loved her and you miss her. My mom is still with me," Stiles said and squeezed her shoulder gently.

"My family, Laura especially, will always be with me," Derek returned gently. "I will never forget the bonds that held Erica, Boyd and I together for such a short time. She's with you Lydia."

The red head nodded, "Maybe we can come here next year? Just sit with them here?" she asked gently.

Derek nodded, "Anytime Lydia, its here for all of us."

She pressed a hand to Scott's shoulder and they both got up and left with final hugs to Stiles and seemingly begrudging ( _seriously guys, knock it off! You've been friends for years now_ ) handshakes with Derek then they were climbing into their vehicles too.

"Stiles you never cease to amaze me," Derek whispered.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over at his boyfriend.

Derek pulled him in close and pressed a slow wet kiss along the seam of Stiles's mouth and the human opened under the heady onslaught of his boyfriend's steamy attention. Stiles wrapped his arms around Derek's shoulder and grunted when the werewolf easily lifted him off his feet to meld against Derek's body and he wrapped his legs around the man's hips. They continued kissing for a few minutes before Derek pulled away gently, "Thank you for this Stiles, I never knew I needed or wanted something like this and the fact that you made if for everyone, for those who died because of us, as well as our friends and the hunters. You made us all connected."

"Yeah, I was going for synergy and I am hoping for something of that when we all leave Beacon Hills in two and a half months."

"You always were smarter than any of us Stiles, you'll get what you need."

Stiles grinned, "Thanks Sourwolf." He pressed another kiss to his sappy boyfriend's lips and wiggled until the werewolf dropped him back to his feet and they both climbed into the Jeep. Stiles pausing and looking back towards the stone and nodded once. "I hope you don't mind, I might have added one more name, someone who had nothing to do with the deaths of your family or the supernatural."

Derek turned and flashed his glowing red eyes, "I saw your mom's name, it shouldn't have been so small Stiles. You lost her too and maybe it wasn't a part of this war but she'd been in a war against her own body and she lost that battle but she did win something in the end."

Stiles stared at him, dumbstruck not that he should be surprised, his boyfriend was a lot smarter than he pretended to be, "Oh?"

"The man you became, someone who could forgive the disease that took her, the hate and the damage that Kate did and all those other names that you put on that stone. In her mind, I have no doubt, that you are a better man than she could have ever dreamed of giving birth to."

"Shut up," Stiles griped, flushing with embarrassment.

"You're the best man I know Stiles to put all this together and I am nothing less than stupidly grateful to share this life with you so yeah, I'm pretty sure that she's somewhere with my mom applauding your amazing capacity for forgiveness, even if it is for the sake of synergy and saving the world, one werewolf pack at a time."

Stiles grinned, "Yeah that's my tagline now, thanks."

Derek mocked groaned, slapped his forehead with his head to the soundtrack of the jeep roaring to life and they were heading back out the way they'd come. It would never be goodbye, Stiles thought, with Derek building a new house on the Preserve, the alpha had started to create a place for all of them and the Memorial was there for all of them.

It wasn't really private property anymore, Stiles thought with a grin as he reached over and took one of Derek's hands into his free hand, bringing it over and nipped at the space between his thumb and forefinger to the deep cadence of the man's laugh.

"So barbeque at the McCall's?" Stiles asked.

"Sure," Derek answered and they stayed silent, recognizing the holiday for what it is: a Memorial, not an excuse for food and drinking but sometimes you can have both.


End file.
